Flights of Love: Stories [Hardcover]

Schlink has compiled a wonderful selection of short stories with ironic twists and surprise endings. As he does in THE READER, he deals with relationships and the web people spin for themseles in dealing with lovers and spouses. I felt the strongest of the stories were THE OTHER MAN and THE CIRCUMCISION. In THE CIRCUMCISION and THE GIRL AND THE LIZARD, Schlink revisits the theme of THE READER in terms of deling with Germany's past and the acceptance of it by contemporary Germans. The conflicts between the characters in THE CIRCUMCISION, while specifically dealing with German/Jewish relations are universal and could involve interracial couples as well as couples from different cultures. In THE OTHER MAN Schlink marverls the reader with his incites into the life of a grieving widower and the fact that his wife has had an affair yet maintained a healthy relationship with him.

I felt that THE SON was the weakest of the stories and seemed to have been drawn on themes more common to V.S. Naipaul. I suspect that some of these stories will show up in the movies some day, especially THE OTHER MAN. All in all the stores are well done, provacative and readable. I only look forward to Schlink's next work.

Perhaps the title, FLIGHTS OF LOVE, caused me to expect stories that would be somewhat fanciful; that would be infused with lyricism and poetry (which was exactly what I was looking for at the time). Instead, I found stories that attempted a gritty reality but were, more often than not, quite awkward, both in construction and in language. I certainly can't blame the translation for this because I read these stories in the original German edition, published as LIEBESFLUCHTEN. THE READER was definitely a gritty novel, but it also possessed a grace and dignity I found almost completely lacking in these stories. The two exceptions were the first story, "Girl With Lizard," which, though quite gritty, was also poignant and thoroughly believable and "The Son," which was powerful and subdued.

For the most part, Schlink's characters indulge in the most improbable, rash and downright inane actions...all in the name of love. Perhaps these are the "flights" mentioned in the title, although I saw them more as flights of sheer stupidity than of love. Love really doesn't play a very big part in these stories; infatuation and hormonal inbalance does.

The book's centerpiece, "Sugar Peas," was woven around a premise so preposterous as to be downright silly. Same with "The Circumcision." That story's main character does something very few grown men in their right mind would do and what's worse, he does it for all the wrong reasons. The closing story, "The Woman at the Gas Station" could have been good if only Schlink had allowed his character to make a different decision. As it is, the main character comes across as a totally selfish, self-indulged and stupid bore, which really isn't a very good way to end a book.

I also found the writing in these stories to be a bit awkward and clumsy at times. In "The Circumcision," a young man and woman visit a Hudson river mansion during the wintertime only to find a profusion of roses blooming in the garden. There are also several instances in which one character tells another character something he or she already knows simply for the benefit of the reader.

My main thought while reading these stories was: What happened? What happened to the lovely prose and the poignancy of THE READER? I don't know, but I'm not going to let my disappointment with FLIGHTS OF LOVE stop me from reading the next book Schlink publishes. With THE READER, he proved that he can write with the best.